When senior midfielder Cassidy Burr was offered a spot on the women’s soccer team, it came with a warning from Head Coach Jason Surrell.

“I don’t think you’ll ever play, but you have the kind of character that I want around my girls, so there is a spot here for you if you want it,” he had said.

However, Burr has played in almost every Cougar game since coming to APU as a freshman in 2012.

Off the bench, the Santa Cruz, California native has taken on the role as a spark plug. She motivates and encourages her teammates when not in the game, and provides a jolt of energy when she enters the pitch.

“She brings a lot of energy and works really hard,” Surrell said. “Other teams may be getting a little tired—then you bring her in, and it’s hard to handle her because she works so hard and makes good decisions on the ball.”

Burr’s biggest contributions lie in her commitment to her teammates outside of games and even outside of soccer.

“The girls call her ‘Mom,’ which just about sums it up for her in terms of what she does for this group,” Surrell said. “She is super sacrificial. Whatever it is, she’ll do it: You need an errand run, someone needs food, someone needs extra work with [shots]. She is always the one that says ‘I’ll help.’ With her character, she is the type of person you want in the program.”

The climax of her career came on Sept. 10 when the Cougars played UC San Diego. Burr launched a perfect shot off the left post and into the back of the net from 20 yards out. After three seasons of providing energy for her teammates, she notched a goal of her own.

“The fact that she works so hard and gives so much… To see her score a goal lifted the whole team; everybody was excited for her,” Surrell said. “Everybody was happy that she was able to do that after all the hard work she’s put in.”

While her expected contribution has changed from her original meeting with Coach Surrell, her character has not. She works at a before-school program where she teaches PE to elementary school kids.

“There is no way of knowing where [the kids] are coming from, so I meet them with a smile, a high-five or a hug,” said Burr, who is a senior applied exercise science major with hopes of becoming a pediatric oncology nurse. “It’s the same thing with my teammates; everyone has something that makes them feel special and I try to find that.”

At practice last week, children were kicking around one of the team’s balls, Burr appraoced them to retreive it. Some of the kids hid the ball and acted like they didn’t know what she was talking about. One of the girls then grabbed the ball from its hiding place and sheepishly gave it to Burr. To reciprocate the kindness, Burr grabbed an old ball and gave it to the girl so she could continue playing.

“I ran to the bin because we have a few old straggler balls from seasons past, so I grabbed an older one, gave it to her and said, ‘I want you to know that the only reason I’m giving you this ball is because you told the truth and I think that is really honorable. I really respect that,’” Burr said. “I could also tell that she would have been bullied or gotten in trouble with her friends for giving the ball back so I just wanted to make sure I rewarded her for that bit of good character.”

Staff Writer Morgan Eisenga contributed reporting to this story.